Barton: We know the task ahead of us

Head coach Joey Barton spoke to the media ahead of Fleetwood Town’s Sky Bet League One trip to Luton Town on Saturday.

Town are currently on a two-match win streak, with wins coming against Coventry City in League One and Guiseley in the Emirates FA Cup, and Barton is looking to extend that to three at Kenilworth Road.

Here are some of the key quotes from Joey’s pre-match press conference…

On the upcoming fixture against Luton…

“We know the task ahead of us, everyone knows how well Luton are doing at home, but we certainly have a squad that could go there and upset the form book. We’ll have a strategy, and a game plan, in place to try and do what’s best for our group and get the best opportunity to take something out of that game.

“I watched them against Bury on Sunday and they don’t fill me with fear. They’re a good side, and they have good home form, but they have a number of weaknesses. We’ve just got to make sure that we stop their strengths and exploit their weaknesses.”

On Town’s away form…

“It’s just football, you do go on little spells. We’ve spoken about consistency before and its hard to find it. We were really good away from home in the early parts of the season, and not so much at home but that’s now been flipped on its head a bit. I’m hoping it settles down and we get the best of both worlds.

“We’re doing alright, the teams growing, we see things on a daily basis in terms of little bits of game knowhow. We’ve just got to focus on what we’re about and, as I say, the game intelligence is the most pleasing thing for me.”

On the squads mentality…

“It would be nice to go on a run and see those points start to accumulate with some momentum but its also a game-by-game mentality. For us, it was nice to get a win against Coventry, certainly in front of your home fans. Also, you have to show the other side to avoid a potential banana skin away at Guiseley so for us, it’s a case of that one-game at a time mentality.

“We’ve flipped now to play Luton away on Saturday, who have the best home record in our division. They’ve turned their stadium into a tough place for visiting teams to go so that’s another challenge we’ve got.

“We’re looking forward to it. I think our group now, they’ve stood up to everything that has been thrown at them. Whether it’s the physicality in the set-pieces and long throws that Guiseley did, or whether it’s that sharp and incisive play that Coventry have. We’re starting to add a lot more game intelligence, but we’ve also got a lot of hard work to improve on.”